 SURREY
DARTS
SEPTEMBER - by Martin Cullip
Clark, the
Blackpool Tower of Strength
Now
I know we shouldn’t keep harping on about Surrey’s demotion from the
Premier Division, but the phrase “only six points” seems to be the
cliché of the summer in these parts.
The “what if” and “if only” scenarios have been hard to
avoid but the County has been attempting to concentrate on the positives
and a quick return to Inter-County darts’ top table.
On
the subject of regret and wondering what might have been, William
Wordsworth once wrote “We will grieve not, rather find strength in
what remains behind”, and what a fine sentiment that is … except for
the fact that he never met Matt Clark!
Nicknamed
Superman (though we’ll have to put a stop to that now he’s no longer
Clark from Kent), Matt proved at Blackpool how much we missed his
undoubted genius on the dartboard for most of last season, as he powered
his way into the Semi-Finals of the PDC Members only ‘Bobby Bourn
Memorial Trophy’
Matt
was only available to Surrey for the final three matches of the 2002/3
campaign and averaged over 30 each time, beating some considerable
talent in doing so, which has had many believing that should we have
been able to boast his expertise for the three weekends that were drawn,
our season could have culminated in a more pleasing outcome.
Of
course, we were just getting over such negative thinking and following
Wordsworth’s advice by looking forward, when, in an act of spiteful
thoughtlessness, Matt dumped a veritable Who’s who of PDC
professionals from the inaugural Blackpool curtain-raiser to remind us
exactly how much we missed him in the early part of the year … yes, Mr
Clark sure does know how to rub a county’s nose in it!
It
was a World Class display by Superman (new name pending) as he cut down
Wayne Jones, Paul Williams and Alex Roy, amongst others, to reach the
Semi, where it was up to the Ladbrokes World Champion John Part to
finally pack the requisite amount of kryptonite in his boxers to disable
the Surrey player before a Final meeting with Phil Taylor.
It
has been clear to us in Surrey that Matt is made of stern stuff and has
the game to be able to trouble the best and his causing of a few in the
PDC ranks to sit up and take notice will have done him no harm at all.
It’s a long, hard trail for ranking points in the PDC (just ask
Lionel Sams) and we all wish him the very best for the struggle.
Let’s just hope though, that he can still find a phone box and
change into his Surrey shirt on a regular basis so he can help us get
our Division 1 campaign up, up and away!
Cometh
the Hour, Cometh the Fruit
In
addition to Matt Clark, another member of the Surrey darting community
was thrown gloriously (or should that be ignominiously) into the
limelight prior to the World Matchplay first round match between Peter
Manley and Mark Holden.
As
‘Top Banana’ Holden made his way to the stage to the usual Sky/PDC
glitz, all eyes weren’t so much on the player as on the astounding
figure who followed him, bridesmaid-like, up the aisle. “Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?” the crowd exclaimed, “No, it’s a guy in a bright
yellow full-body banana suit!”
If
Andy Warhol was correct in assuming that we all get our chance of fame,
then there is no doubting that Surrey’s Barrie Cox grabbed his chance
with both of his oversized mitts. As
the saying goes, ‘cometh the Hour, cometh the man’, or in this case,
cometh the fruit!
Cox,
23, is a big fan of Mark Holden and even dubbed himself ‘Top Apple’
for a while, in deference to the PDC player but with a small sideswipe
at his own fruit-linked surname.
Weighing
in at around 20 stones, Barrie is, quite literally, a larger than life
character who goes by a variety of self-styled nicknames such as
‘Wideload’ or ‘The Incredible Bulk’ and has never been known to
utter the phrase “but seriously folks”. Surrey have found this out
on our travels at numerous motorway services up and down the country
where he has raised more than a few amused eyebrows … as well as some
far less entertained ones!
As
a fair Super League and ex-Surrey Youth player himself, he has a very
keen interest in the sport and follows the PDC circuit as much as his
finances as a Wallington Taxi controller will allow, but to be asked by
Sky to be shown live on TV dressed as a banana for the hilarity of
viewers worldwide no doubt caused clown-like tears of pride to roll down
his rotund cheeks. A
stunning achievement, I think you’ll agree!
Although
the suit came off very shortly into the match, due to a combination of
the heat at the Winter Gardens and the fact that the Top Banana was
being banana-skinned by Manley, the experience hasn’t dampened
Barrie’s enthusiasm. A
little later, he managed to make ‘Ace of Herts’ Alex Roy keep still
for 5 minutes (an achievement in itself) and, energised by his brush
with TV stardom, Barrie suggested getting a bright red fluffy suit, in
the shape of a Heart, made for Roy’s entrances … Alex’s reply
can’t be printed in a family publication such as this.
Surrey
by the Seaside
On
the Stan James Matchplay stage at Blackpool, there wasn’t a lot for
Surrey to cheer, especially with our stalwart Dave Askew going out so
early in a first round upset to Mark Dudbridge, though how much of a
shock the result was is a matter of bookmaker’s opinion. The two have
met four times in competition and ‘Flash’ has emerged victorious on
each occasion.
Ex-Surrey
County regular Bob Anderson fared a little better in his adopted town by
taking out Ronnie Baxter, but he just couldn’t keep pace with an
in-form Alex Roy and made his exit to the Watford lad after a close
13-11 encounter.
There
was also a healthy contingent of lesser-known Surrey players who
competed in both the Blackpool Open and the Bobby Bourn event and with
the exception of the afore-mentioned Matt Clark, the best performer was
Mark ‘Spike’ Harris, an ambitious competition player from Stonecot
Hill, just a stone’s throw from Peter Manley’s old stomping ground,
North Cheam. He reached the last 16, beating Alan Warriner on the way,
before having his Blackpool pleasure beached by Sean Palfrey. Spike
is a hard-working player and his efforts look to be paying off as this
result would seem to prove, he may be worth watching closely in the
coming year.
Darren
Gale also played.
AGM
Boost
Surrey
received a huge boost for the upcoming season on August 3rd
as the County AGM saw a massive 30% rise in attendance from last year. With a long hard campaign to regain our Premier Division
status ahead of us, the rank and file of Surrey darts pulled out all the
stops to halt the apathy that so blighted us last year and Epsom Legion
thronged as 13 people turned up to air their views as opposed to the 10
of a year ago!
Heated
discussions raged throughout the meeting with a proposal to reduce
players’ expenses, for example, being met with passionate comments
such as “yes, that’s fair” and “seems reasonable to me”
There
was also a real enthusiasm for the vacant committee posts, too, as
illustrated when candidates were invited for the Ladies Team Manager
position from which Rita Higginson retired at the end of last season.
The moment County Secretary Aline Cook asked for nominations,
there was a mad and undignified clamour as attendees struggled to thrust
their hands firmly under the tables.
Claire
Heron was voted onto the Committee as County Treasurer, a job she had
indicated she was happy to accept, but this weakness was soon seized
upon by the enthusiastic masses and before she knew what the post
entailed, the non-dart playing Claire had been elected as a Ladies Team
Selector and was in the process of being nominated as Team Manager,
Minutes Secretary and Youth Organiser before she sussed the plot, downed
her Malibu and headed off into the night screaming “Taxi!”.
The
meeting ended at 9:20pm which came as a huge relief to the bar staff …
he said that at one time, he was so busy he thought he may have to go
out the back and get another bag of pound coins!
Gold
Cup Unstuck
I
don’t know about you, but if it were I who had qualified for one of
the National BDO Competitions via the County playoffs, I’d be hoping
to avoid a big name in the first round so I could ‘feel’ my way into
the competition. Unfortunately,
that qualification has thus far eluded me (stop laughing at the back!)
and unfortunately for this year’s Surrey Gold Cup qualifiers, that
comfortable first round draw was equally as elusive.
In
the Ladies competitions, both our qualifiers met the eventual Winners in
their very first match. Kerry
Simmons drew Trina Gulliver in the singles, whilst Chrissy Skehan and
Julie Austin suffered the same early exit after being asked to face
Trina and Clare Bywaters in the first round of the pairs.
None
of the Ladies disgraced themselves though, Kerry took a leg from the
three-time World Champion and in the case of the Pairs, it was the width
of a double wire that prevented the Surrey representatives from catching
the Warwickshire stars cold and taking a 2-0 lead, before they finally
succumbed 1-3.
Lionel
Sams would have been equally unimpressed to have drawn Cumbria’s Vegas
Classic Champion, Peter Manley, on his first visit to the oche, but
Lionel has been pulling up trees of late and managed to take apart One
Dart 3-2. Unfortunately for the Kingston player, he couldn’t repeat
the treatment in Round 3 and went out to Somerset’s eventual
Semi-Finalist George Turnball.
Mark
Harris and Jason Roberts nearly didn’t even make the FIRST round in
the Mens Pairs as they were unaware of the rule that said they had to be
wearing matching shirts to play. However,
after a mad dash to the shops to buy little and large versions of the
same attire, they reached round two before bowing out to the West
Midlands pairing. I just wish I knew what colour they went for … why, oh why
do I keep envisioning them playing in Hawaiian shirts?
A
Plea to Surrey Readers
Lastly
this month, I need to speak directly to Surrey-based readers of Darts
World, so all the rest of you can feel free to browse the rest of the
publication. I recommend
the Letters Page myself, and Wayne Baker’s pages are always worth a
look, so run along now and we’ll meet up again next month (I exclude
Ritchie from Leeds, who I met in Blackpool, in this by the way.
Considering he remembers more of my previous columns than I do,
it would be rude of me to exclude him hehe).
I
am appealing to all darts players in Surrey to get LADIES to contact me
as soon as possible!
Actually,
I’d better re-phrase that – er, Surrey has a distinct lack of Lady
Players willing to play Super League at the moment and consequentially,
the County side will soon be suffering as a result.
Now we have all come across talented female darts players in the
local Leagues who should be playing at Super League level or beyond, but
for some reason, they are reticent to come forward.
There
seems to be an idea in Surrey that Ladies’ Super League is some
unattainable standard for many local league players.
This is simply not the case.
If you, or lady players that you know, are kicking a fair amount
of lumps out of their local league opposition, then there is no reason
why the same couldn’t happen in the Super League and even for the
County.
If
any ladies are interested in making the step, or if there’s anyone you
know who lives in or very near to Surrey that may be suitable, or
perhaps you’ve been itching to have a go at Super League but just
don’t know who to call, please contact me at 07947-741299 or by e-mail
at toetheoche@fsmail.net and
I’ll put you in contact with your local Super League team … we
don’t bite, honest!
|
